Exclusive Gangster Report sources in Massachusetts law enforcement circles confirm that the human remains unearthed by federal investigators in Providence last month were those of slain New England mafia associate and nightclub impresario Steve DiSarro, a native Rhode Islander. DiSarro was killed over two decades ago after his business relationship with the mob in a South Boston strip club soured due to attention from law enforcement.

“They ID’d him pretty quickly,” one source said. “The question now is if any charges will be brought. There are people who could be charged with crimes tied to this guy’s murder. We know that and we have for a good amount of time by now.”

According to FBI informants, DiSarro was strangled to death on May 10, 1993 by Boston mob prince Frank Salemme, Jr., the long-deceased son of then-Patriarca crime family boss Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme, 82 years old and currently living in the Witness Protection Program. Salemme, Jr. died of the AIDS virus in 1995. That same year his dad’s reign atop the mafia in New England came to an end with his incarceration.

Cadillac Frank Salemme has been out of prison since 2009. He’s been implicated in the DiSarro homicide as well.

The New England mob has traditionally been split between Boston and Providence. DiSarro was born and raised in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood, the city’s Little Italy. Per court documents, DiSarro was partnered with Cadillac Frank and his son as owners of The Channel, a music venue and dance club which had switched to a go-go bar in the early 1990s. The Salemmes’ ownership was hidden. In the months after the club came under scrutiny by the FBI for its’ shady financial affairs, per law enforcement records, Salemme, Jr. began worrying that DiSarro was a “weak link” and sought permission to “remove him from the equation.”

The Salemme Era in the Patriarca clan was a treacherous one – the DiSarro hit was part of a body count authorities place in the double digits during Cadillac Frank’s early-1990s mob regime. Cadillac Frank pled guilty to obstruction of justice and perjury charges in 2008 after lying to the FBI in his debriefings and in front of a grand jury regarding his knowledge of the DiSarro slaying. Salemme originally told the FBI that deceased New England mob don Nicky Bianco was responsible.

Multiple sources tell Gangster Report, Salemme could be in jeopardy of being charged with playing a role in DiSarro’s murder conspiracy. Former Boston wiseguy-turned-witness-for-the-government Stephen (Stevie the Rifleman) Flemmi, notorious Irish mafia leader James (Whitey) Bulger’s right-hand man, has admitted to accidentally walking in on DiSarro being killed at Cadillac Frank’s suburban Sharon, Massachusetts home.

Flemmi informed his FBI handlers that he saw DiSarro being strangled by Salemme, Jr., as his dad and two associates watched on. Sources tab the two Salemme associates present as East Boston capo and FBI informant Mark Rosetti and Jack Salemme, Cadillac Frank’s brother and one-time acting boss. The half-Irish Salemme brothers grew up with Bulger and benefited from his and Flemmi’s rise in the New England underworld, aided by their controversial work with the FBI depicted in the Johnny Depp 2015 film Black Mass.

Imprisoned Salemme protégé, Darin (Nino) Bufalino, has had his name arise in the DiSarro investigation too, allegedly for his role in possibly helping transport DiSarro’ corpse to its’ burial site. Bufalino and “Action Jack” Salemme have beaten murder raps in the past.

Cadillac Frank’s underboss, Providence-based Goodfella Robert (Bobby the Cigar) DeLuca flipped in 2011. Property owned by DeLuca underling Billy Ricci was where DiSarro’s remains were discovered. Flemmi recounted a conversation with Salemme to the FBI where Cadillac Frank admitted to burying DiSarro on property in Providence owned by a friend of DeLuca’s. Following his recent bust for drug offenses, Ricci made a deal with the government and allowed the FBI to excavate his land.